A part of the OACCT's
Public Policy efforts for 2014 is for volunteers from the Public Policy
committee attend both City and County meetings and report back on items that
are of interest/concern to business.
Senator Vickie Jensen
See Attached
·
Senator Jenson commented that it was important
to her to bring back the county/state match with regard to infrastructure. She
would like to see the amount increased to $2MM.
·
The B2B tax is a hot button for everyone and
there is tremendous support to repeal it. The Senator did mention that if it is
not done soon they will have to look for other sources for the money that this
tax was to support.
·
I35 will undergo major work in our community
2014/2015. The Senator wants to make sure that the county is kept in the loop
concerning access and material handling logistics.
Public Works Building Review
See Attached
·
Anita Benson presented Options 2 and 4 to the
committee
o Option
2 has a price of approximately $9.5MM.
§ This
is a much larger facility and has more amenities.
§ This
is the option that she is supporting.
o Option
4 has a price of approximately $7MM.
§ This
is a scaled back facility
§ It
subsequently has fewer amenities. It has room for fewer vehicles than the
original Hoffman facility.
§ According
to Anita, the Task Force “whittled it down” to one of these two options with a
preference for Option 4.
·
Tom Shae reported that the decision on the
second appeal is “eminent”. He made inquiries to determine the meaning of
eminent. Apparently a decision has been made and forwarded to “legal”. Once it
clears that hurdle it will be expressed to the county. He had no idea how long
that will take.
·
Commissioner Ebling presented that the Task
Force really did not support an option as much as a price tag of $7MM.
·
There was concern that Option 4 does not meet
the needs of the county with regard to room.
·
Others on the committee concurred and it was
determine that the issue needs to go to Public Works to scale back the features
of Option 2 to more closely fit the Option 4 price tag.
·
There is some concern that the county will get
into the bonding process and then find out that the FEMA claim is approved. It
was determined that it is more prudent to move along in the process using the
2015 lease expiration as a deadline.
·
There is also some concern in that some of the
cost saving plans call for moving the building itself closer to the highway
therefore limiting the amount of driveway. The city would like to add a
retaining pond in that location. There was also some discussion by the
Commissioners that the space nearest the highway might be better used for commercial
development.
